Koki NARITA

Abstract: Ainu as a key to make a
multicultural society

Japanese people sometimes say that Japan is
the monoethnic country consisting of Japanese.
However Japan is not consisting of only one ethnic group Japanese. There are indigenous peoples in Japan called Ainu. Ainu
has lived in Hokkaido far before Japanese people started to live in Hokkaido.
Knowing Ainu people is a key to make Japan multicultural society. Ainu people
used to live with hunting and live near the river. However, Japanese people make some laws, in which
they forced Ainu to live in the Japanese styles.
Ainu people were forced to live with farming but it was difficult for the most
of Ainu peoples and the standard of living of them got worse and worse. These
acts existed until the New Ainu law was established in 1997. The new Ainu law
doesn’t save the right of Ainu as the indigenous people so much. Also it was in
2008 when Ainu people were recognized as the indigenous people. The
economically situation of Ainu people have yet to recover. The ratio of university
entrance of Ainu is lower than that of Japanese.
The ratio of welfare aid of Ainu is also higher than that of Japanese. What we can do to solve this problem is to
know Ainu people and explain it to the foreign peoples.